Biden for presidentWe have seen all the Democratic presidential candidates, except for
two, up close and personal: Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John
Edwards, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson. Biden is our choice for
the nomination for the powerful personal story he shares, for his deep
knowledge of international affairs, and for his long record of exemplary
service in the United States Senate.

Democrats are fortunate to have such a strong and varied field of candidates.
Every one of them we like ó including Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel,
who speak truth to power. Any one of them would make a tremendous president:
Clinton by shattering the glass ceiling for women in politics, Obama for
presenting a younger and different face to the world, Edwards for championing
the cause of the little guy, Dodd for his long championing of those who
suffer around the world, Richardson for his refreshing candor and good
humor and wealth of experience as a diplomat.

We like Biden because he has been tried privately and publicly, and
came out of it all a stronger man. His wife and young child were
killed in an auto accident. He faced death with a brain aneurism
but survived it. Anyone who has been through what he has gains a
perspective that will serve him well in the most trying of jobs.

Biden overcame severe stuttering as a child by memorizing and reciting
the great Irish poets in front of a mirror. He continues to call
them down at public appearances, Yeats and Heaney and Joyce, which holds
a special charm for us and gives a glimpse into the manís soul.

Biden is astounding with his sheer command of world politics and conflict.
He has distinguished himself by offering the only workable plan to get
us out of harmís way in Iraq. He advocates a loose federal system
under which the Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds would each control their own
territory, somewhat similar to the notion of American federalism.
He would remove American troops to a safe distance in friendly environs
ó Kurdistan and Kuwait, to name two ó and let the Iraqis solve their own
problems. The Senate on a bipartisan vote recently endorsed the Biden-Brownback
plan, which dovetails into the thinking of the most prescient politician
on the issue, Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Penn., who led the charge against deeper
involvement in Iraq that turned the 2006 Congressional elections.

Biden is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Nobody, including the president, has a firmer grasp of international affairs.
Thatís what we need right now: Someone who can restore the good name of
the United States of America around the world, who can hold the torch lighting
the way of liberty and human rights throughout the world. Biden is
that man. He says his first order of business will be to shut down
Guantanamo Bay prison and quit torturing people.

And, we need someone who understands civil liberties here at home.
Biden says that will be the theme of his inaugural address, if elected.
You canít preach liberty abroad when youíre spying without court orders
on your own citizens.

How electable is Biden? How electable is a woman, or a man of
color? Biden is somewhere south of 5% support among likely Democratic
caucus-goers in Iowa. Remember that Jimmy Carter and John Kerry came out
of nowhere. Polls can change quickly with such a small sample.
The results are inevitable only if we place our bet with the big money
and big machines. Biden has neither. He has a world view of
America as an idea, a desire to restore our core values of freedom with
shared responsibility, and a pragmatic view of foreign relations that seeks
to bring nations together to find solutions short of misguided and ineffective
wars.

We also find Biden to be a person of integrity. When he last ran
for president 20 years ago, Biden lifted a line from a British politicianís
speech ó whether conscious or not. Biden did not run and hide and
deny and hedge. We recall it as if it were yesterday. In Davenport,
he immediately admitted he was wrong, quit the race and thanked Iowans
for their patience with him. We will never forget the classy way
in which he ended that race. What appeared to be his major political
foible is to us one of his strengths: humility, and a surprising lack of
vanity. Thatís something weíve been lacking with the current occupant
of the White House.

Itís hard to go wrong with any of the candidates. We stand with
Joe Biden because he has all the professional skills and, more important,
the personal strength to get the job done unlike any other candidate.

NOTES:The Storm Lake Times
has the largest readership of any newspaper ó daily or weekly ó in Buena
Vista County. The paper is locally owned; the publisher is John Cullen
and the editor is Art Cullen. The Times published its inaugural
issue on Friday, June 29, 1990, starting with an initial circulation of
an initial 1,800 copies every Friday. It switched to publishing daily
for much of 1993 and went to twice weekly in 1994. The Times
endorsed Rep. Dick Gephardt in the 2004 Iowa caucuses.